Classically inspired recipe for alfredo sauce that uses four whole ingredients for a naturally thick, satisfying and nutritious complement to any meat or pasta dish.
Alfredo sauce is one of the most popular sauces for complementing pasta and meat dishes. Unfortunately, commercial versions in restaurants and from the store are not remotely similar to authentic, traditional recipes.
If you take the time to check the list of ingredients for popular alfredo sauce brands…including organic ones…the very first ingredient is WATER!
Organic Alfredo Sauce Ingredients
Check out the list of ingredients for a very popular brand of organic alfredo sauce:
Water, organic cream, organic whole milk, organic soybean oil, organic corn starch, organic Parmesan cheese (organic pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), organic butter (organic cream, salt), organic Romano cheese made from cow’s milk (organic pasteurized part-skim milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), enzyme modified egg yolk (egg yolk, salt, enzymes), sea salt, organic whey, xanthan gum, yeast extract, disodium phosphate, organic garlic powder, natural flavors, organic spice, salt.
Where do I even start with this? There are so many problems with these ingredients!
Would I ever buy it? NEVA EVA.
My first issue is obviously that plain WATER is the first ingredient.
It isn’t even filtered …. hello chlorine, trihalomethanes and other toxins present in municipal water supplies on your dinner plate.
The next problem is soybean oil. I’ve only got one word for that. Cheap.
Classic, creamy recipes for alfredo sauce never include refined vegetable oil!
Another problem is the “modified egg yolk”. This is food industry-speak for powdered eggs. This stuff is literally poison to your cardiovascular system. It is heavily processed at high temperatures and pressures which oxidizes the egg’s cholesterol.
Then, there are the obligatory additives organic corn starch and xanthan gum thickener which congeal the stuff unnaturally because the first ingredient is…must I type it yet again…WATER.
Finally, the two catch-all, mystery ingredients “natural flavors” and “organic spice” hide MSG and/or whatever else food manufacturers prefer not to specify on the label. (1)
Note that yeast extract is not MSG but can trigger symptoms anyway in sensitive individuals.
Healthy Alfredo Sauce
Why settle for a completely unacceptable, sub-standard product like this?
It seems that some food manufacturers take consumers for fools. Just slap the USDA Organic label on a product, and folks will robotically buy it without checking if the product is actually decent.
Why not learn how to make creamy alfredo sauce yourself at home instead? It is so simple and takes just minutes to make a cup and a half. It also compares favorably in price to a jar of the watered-down, fake stuff from the store with the homemade being infinitely more nutritious.
I whip up a pan in about 5 minutes while the rest of the meal is cooking. We like to serve it over sourdough pasta noodles.
This recipe is keto-friendly, so it is also fantastic drizzled on cooked broccoli or asparagus spears.
If you need a substitute for the dairy cream, try using cashew cream or Russian Custard made with egg yolks instead.
I’d love to hear what you think if you try it for yourself!
Classically Creamy Alfredo Sauce Recipe (4 ingredients!)
Classically inspired recipe for alfredo sauce that uses four whole ingredients for a naturally thick, satisfying and nutritious complement to any meat or pasta dish.
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup butter or 1 stick
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese finely shredded
- 1-2 tsp garlic finely minced
- 1/2 tsp sea salt optional
- 1/2 ground pepper optional
Instructions
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Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
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Stir in the cream and bring to a boil.
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Turn down the heat to a simmer and mix in the parmesan cheese, garlic, and optional salt and pepper.
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Cook uncovered for 5 minutes stirring frequently.
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Serve immediately.
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Cool and refrigerate leftovers. Sauce lasts for 4-5 days. It will harden in the refrigerator but reliquify quickly when warmed in a pan on the stovetop. I recommend using glass as it retains the flavor better.
Recipe Notes
1 clove of garlic minced makes about 1 teaspoon.
Substitute 1/4-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder for the minced garlic if desired.
The parmesan cheese should be finely grated else it doesn’t dissolve as well in the sauce.
Serve over one of these types of sourdough pasta.
May I heat the cream without boiling to preserve the enzymes? Or does it have to reach boiling?
It has to be pretty hot for everything to mix in. The enzymes are destroyed past 117F. You can try and use a food thermometer and get everything blended below that temperature, but I think it will be tricky.
Hi Sarah the recipe looks great but the cream is no longer available. The company makes a clotted cream, I have no idea what that is but will that work instead?
Thank you!
Clotted cream would probably work ok. It is thicker than heavy cream … more the consistency of cream cheese. I would suggest low temp pasteurized half and half as a potentially better substitute if you can’t get regular cream. The sauce would be a bit thinner however. Note that Whole Foods has low temp pasteurized cream last I saw.
I’ve been making this for yrs so easy I also only use fresh milk from the farm instead of cream which is so expensive here in txs it come out just fine
Great recipe and post! Loved it!
Yummy!
I have a question? Can I make this without the cheese? Or substitute it? I can’t have dairy, only the raw cream no other dairy… thanks!
This entire recipe is dairy, unfortunately. I don’t think this sauce is for you. I can’t recommend alternatives as cheese substitutes are full of nasty ingredients.
I did pretty much the same thing last week, but I didn’t have any cream so I just used whole, raw goat milk from our Nigerian Dwarf goats. Nigerians naturally have the highest butterfat of the dairy goat breeds and it turned out excellent.
Great post!!